The additional funding supports the water authority’s projects to convert residents from groundwater to surface water, and will help alleviate subsidence and flooding.

Byron Hebert, city finance director, said based on the city’s average water usage over the last three years, Katy officials were able to charge residents an increase of 5 cents per 1,000 gallons pumped, going from 42 cents last year to 47 cents this year for the water authority.

The average city of Katy household uses between 5,000 gallons and 8,000 gallons, Hebert said, and could expect to see an estimated total increase of 25 cents. The increase is retroactive starting Jan. 15 and will appear on February water bills.

Hebert added that the city has not increased its rate for local water usage, and the authority’s increase does not benefit the city.

“The rate increase is a pass-through cost that we’re collecting for the water authority,” Hebert said, adding that the Bluebonnet Groundwater Conservation District in Waller County has not raised its rate.

Last year, the Bluebonnet Groundwater Conservation District started charging the city a fee of 3.5 cents per 1,000 gallons for groundwater pumped from Waller County.

Katy City Council approved the West Harris County Regional Water Authority’s rate increase at a Jan. 26 council meeting. Last year, the water authority raised its rate from 65 cents to 85 cents per 1,000 gallons, and the gradual increases from the water authority will continue through 2020, Hebert said.

“They’re going to charge us $1.10 in 2010, $1.30 in 2012 and it’s going to be $2.45 by 2020,” Hebert said about the water authority’s plan to increase rates. “It’s going to creep up there pretty fast.”

However, Hebert said he anticipates the city being able to continue charging residents about half of that increase over the next few years.

Converting from groundwater to surface water

The increased funding is needed for the water authority to meet a mandate by the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District requiring municipal utility districts, cities and other water suppliers to reduce groundwater pumpage by 30 percent by 2010 and 70 percent by 2020.

Water pipelines and a pump station connected to the city of Houston’s water supply have been built with the increased funds to help meet these goals.

The authority’s year-to-date actual revenues for 2008 was $14 million; however, the construction cost from bonds sold for the water conversion project so far is at $31 million. That figure includes the construction of water pipelines and a pump station.

The authority has sold and will continue to sell bonds to complete the project. By the end of 2009, the authority is expected to spend a total of $49 million on the construction projects for the water conversion plan.

Wayne Ahrens, engineer for the West Harris County Regional Water Authority, said 23 of the 110 municipal utility districts in the authority’s boundaries have already been converted to surface water or are using a combination of surface and groundwater.

The authority’s boundaries extend from U.S. 290 in the northwest to the Harris County/Fort Bend County line to the west and parts of Houston to the east.

The city of Katy, however, will not be fully converted until sometime after 2020, he said.

“The city of Katy is very far west of the authority’s boundaries and the authority is working from east to west,” Ahrens said. “Since the water supply is coming from the east, we’re converting the closest districts for the water supply first.”

In addition, Ahrens said the authority will meet the 2010 goal by the end of this year with 44 districts being converted to surface water. Last December, about 20 percent of the total water usage in the authority’s boundaries was surface water, he said.

The authority is working on a capital improvement plan to meet the 2020 requirements, Ahrens said.